Feverish in the first period, better in the second, Paris SG obtained a 1-1 draw in Nice on Sunday at the end of the 7th day of Ligue 1, but gave up the lead in the championship to Monaco. On the eve of the international break, the reigning French champion, 17 points, is second behind Monaco and its 19 points, and ahead of OM and Brest, 14 points each.
A tactical change made by Luis Enrique on the PSG side
Given the eventful week they had just spent, between the banning of Ousmane Dembélé from a match for misconduct and their first defeat of the season at Arsenal in the Champions League (2-0), given their poor first period at the Allianz Riviera in Nice, it’s a lesser evil for the Parisians who now have 15 days to recover their spirits.
If Paris avoided a psychodrama, as it knows so well how to create them on its own, it owes a lot to the tactical change made by Luis Enrique at half-time, while Nice led 1-0 after a superb strike from Ali Abdi diverted into his own goal by the Portuguese Nuno Mendes (38th).
By replacing Randal Kolo Muani at the break – no strikes during the entire first period – with Lee Kang-in, the tempestuous Spanish coach prevented his team from conceding a second consecutive defeat after that suffered on Tuesday in London in C1.
Two convalescent teams who will be able to breathe
Positioned lower than the French international, the South Korean, from his entry into play, disorganized the Nice defense, imperial in the first period, and allowed his team to escape from the quagmire in which they nevertheless seemed firmly entangled. Relaying his midfielders, Lee favored the rise of the arrows Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé and Paris, harmless for 45 minutes, immediately created danger on the goal of Marcin Bulka, the Nice goalkeeper, formerly of PSG.
On a corner played in two stages by the Parisians, Dembélé fixed the Nice defense, found Nuno Mendes whose shot, deflected this time by Moïse Bombito, deceived Bulka on his right (1-1, 52nd). Once again in control of its game, Paris then pushed to snatch victory, but came up against a vigilant Bulka and a Nice defense which was able to readjust after ten minutes of hesitation at the start of the second half.
That would not have exactly reflected the appearance of the meeting where Nice, sharply beaten Thursday in the Europa League by Lazio in Rome (4-1), made up for it at home and is in 9th place. The two teams still recovering will be able to breathe during the first championship break this season. During the eighth day, October 19, Paris will host Strasbourg to try to regain the lead in the championship from Monaco. We will then know if the 15 days of break will have allowed him to definitively get rid of his horrifying week.
